The Epiphany

Today is the day of the Epiphany, celebrating the day that Jesus Christ was baptised by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. It also happens to be the ‘name day’ of my wonderful Greek wife Ourania.

For many Epiphany also marks the last day of Christmas , the twelfth night and the day that all those lovely decorations that have brightened our homes come down.

The Brazen Serpent

Mount Nebo and the Dead Sea and is said to be the point where Moses first viewed the Promised Land of Canaan, a land that God decreed that Moses would never see.

Moses is also said to have been buried at Mount Nebo, a tomb that has never been discovered.

A metal sculpture called the ‘Brazen Serpent’ marks the spot where on a clear day you can see modern day Israel, that most disputed of nations (on a really clear day you can see Jericho, Bethlehem & Jerusalem). The sculpture combines the cross with the serpent, signs of Christ and Satan.

‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life’ (John 3.14-15)